Business
Cassava Glut Blamed On Absence Of Value Addition
The All Farmers Association of Nigeria (AFAN) has blamed the much-talked about cassava glut in the country on the lack of processing to ensure value addition.
The National Vice President of AFAN, Chief Tola Adepomola, said this while speaking with newsmen yesterday in Ibadan.
Adepomola noted that during the Obasanjo-led administration, which initiated the Presidential Initiative on Cassava, there was a lot of hullabaloo about cassava glut.
“There is glut because cassava tubers are not processed into products that can be kept on the shelf for longer period.
“There is glut because cassava is not processed into high quality cassava flour and chips that can be exported to other countries, that’s why we have glut,” the AFAN chief said.
According to him, the glut was in respect of tubers and not cassava products.
“We are not processing our cassava tubers into starch. They are importing most of the starch they are using in Nigeria today,” he said.
Adepomola said that in reality, if cassava was processed into finished products, there would never be glut in the country.
But without further processing, there would be glut of tubers which could also get spoilt and wasted due to poor storage facilities.
He stressed the need for linkage between cassava farmers and companies in need of the tubers to enhance market information.